Light-emitting devices (LEDs), such as light-emitting diodes or laser diodes, are widely used for many applications. As is well known to those skilled in the art, an LED may include a semiconductor light-emitting element having a plurality of semiconductor layers formed on a substrate. The substrate may be formed of, for example, gallium arsenide, gallium phosphide, alloys thereof, silicon carbide, and/or sapphire. Continued development in LEDs has resulted in highly efficient and mechanically robust light sources that can cover the visible spectrum and beyond. These attributes, coupled with the potentially long service life of solid state devices, may enable a variety of new display applications, and may place LEDs in a position to compete with the well entrenched incandescent and fluorescent lamps.
LEDs emit light from active layers. Accordingly, light may be extracted from the opposite sides of the active layers. However, in certain situations, for example, when an LED is used for illumination, it may be preferred that the light is directed to only one side of the LED, with the light being scattered to achieve a more uniform light distribution. Conventionally, patterned package substrates were bonded to LED chips to re-direct light to desirable directions. This solution, however, results in an increase in the cost and complexity in the formation of the package substrates and the bonding process for bonding LED chips to the package substrates. In addition, the solutions in package substrates did not help improve the light-extraction efficiency.